2 Samuel

Meditations on the Second Book of Samuel

H. L. Rossier

Introduction

The historical books of the Old Testament deal with God's ways toward Israel beginning with their entry into Canaan. On every page of these books this people's conduct and the lives of men of God offer great moral lessons. And lastly we find here in various types the person, the work, and the glories of the Lord Jesus.

Naturally we find these three important subjects in the First and Second Books of Samuel. The first of these books begins with the ruin of the priesthood, that which ought to have maintained Israel in direct relationship with God. But neither the judgment that fell on Eli's sons, the capture of the ark, nor the breaking off of His relationship with His people prevented the Lord from raising up for that same people a prophet, Samuel, charged with maintaining merciful relations with Israel. Then God declares that He will establish a new relationship between His people and Himself through a king, His anointed, before whom a faithful priest should always walk.

Instead of patiently waiting for the Lord's anointed the rebellious people asked for a king like all the nations. God granted this request in His wrath, but tempered this with mercy. Saul disobeyed and was rejected. Then the Lord raised up David, the king according to His own heart. Reproved, Saul persecuted the true king. The remainder of this book is filled with David's sufferings. Around Jesse's son there gathers a feeble remnant of the children of Israel, faithful witnesses of his afflictions who will share in his reign when he receives the crown.

The period presented in the First Book of Samuel is a type of the Messiah's sufferings in the midst of Israel. This period ends with David's victory over Amalek, a type of Satan in the Scriptures (Ex. 17: 8-16). The king according to God's mind smites the enemy which Saul had spared. But the king according to the flesh, who had once conquered the Philistines, now falls when they attack him, and all the initial successes of his career come to nothing.

The beginning of the Second Book of Samuel presents David, the conqueror of Amalek, and how first Judah and then all Israel gradually recognize his dominion. Yet this dominion is not really complete until Solomon's glorious throne is set up in Jerusalem. Thus we find in this book the establishment in power of David, the king of grace, a striking picture of the Messiah at the beginning of His reign.

The First Book of Kings opens with Solomon, the king of righteousness and peace, whose glorious dominion over the entire world is a magnificent type of Christ's millennial reign.

Nevertheless, let us note that in the book before us David is not only a picture of the Messiah, but also the responsible king to whom God has entrusted the government of His people. In this respect his rule was a failure, as every other divinely instituted relationship also has been. This is why in this book we find David's fall, its terrible consequences, the discipline exercised upon him, his restoration, his confession; and at the very end, when sin had given occasion for sacrifice, we find this sacrifice staying God's wrath and establishing at the altar on Moriah a place of meeting for the Lord and His people.

All the experiences of David, a fallible man, are full of solemn instruction for our souls. They also serve as a model anticipating the experiences of the remnant of Judah, driven out of Jerusalem and then restored, experiences which are expressed prophetically in the Psalms.

Contents

Introduction

2 Samuel 1   GOD'S JUDGMENT UPON ISRAEL AND SAUL

2 Samuel 1: 1-16  The Amalekite

2 Samuel 1: 17-27  The Song of the Bow

2 Samuel 2 - 4  THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED OVER JUDAH

2 Samuel 2   Hebron

2 Samuel 3   Abner

2 Samuel 4   Ishbosheth

2 Samuel 5 - 24  THE KINGDOM OVER ISRAEL

2 Samuel 5 - 10  DAVID BEFORE HIS FALL

2 Samuel 5: 1-10  The Stronghold of Zion

2 Samuel 5: 10-25  Victories

2 Samuel 6   The Ark at Zion

2 Samuel 7   Communion

2 Samuel 8   New Victories

2 Samuel 9   Mephibosheth

2 Samuel 10   Hanun

2 Samuel 11 - 20  DAVID'S FALL AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

2 Samuel 11   The Fall

2 Samuel 12   Forgiveness, Discipline, and Restoration

2 Samuel 13   Amnon

2 Samuel 14   Joab

2 Samuel 15   David's Flight

2 Samuel 16   Friends and Enemies

2 Samuel 17   Service

2 Samuel 18   Absalom's Death and David's Broken Heart

2 Samuel 19: 1-40  Grace

2 Samuel 19: 41 - 20 Conflict Between Brothers

2 Samuel 21 - 24  EPILOGUE

2 Samuel 21: 1-14  Rizpah

2 Samuel 21: 15-22  The Sons of the Giant

2 Samuel 22   The Song of Deliverance

2 Samuel 23: 1-7  David's Last Words

2 Samuel 23: 8-39  David's Mighty Men

2 Samuel 24   Moriah

2 SAMUEL 1

GOD'S JUDGMENT UPON ISRAEL AND SAUL

2 SAMUEL 1: 1-16 — THE AMALEKITE

Two events mark the dawn of David's reign: the judgment of Israel and of Israel's prince on the mountains of Gilboa, and the victory over Amalek won by the man who will soon be king. Christ's reign will bear the same characteristics. His reign cannot be established except by judgment of the Antichrist and the apostate Jews, and by a victory rendering powerless the great enemy of God and of His Anointed and of men. Indeed, Satan will be bound for this very purpose: for the introduction of Christ's millennial reign (Rev. 19: 19-20: 3).

Scarcely is Amalek conquered than a messenger comes from Saul's camp “with his garments rent, and earth upon his head.” He bore the outward marks of sympathy, mourning, and grief, and was bringing homage to the one he presumed was king. “And as soon as he came to David, he fell to the earth and did obeisance” (2 Sam. 1: 2). Anyone but the man of God would have been influenced by these marks of deference, but simple communion with the Lord, along with the prudence of a serpent (Matt. 10: 16) in matters of relations with the world, prevent him from falling into this snare. In a similar situation we ourselves might perhaps have had difficulty in deciphering the intentions of the enemy — but let us always guard against making hasty decisions. This is what David did. “Whence comest thou?” “Out of the camp of Israel am I escaped.” “What has taken place? I pray thee, tell me.” “How knowest thou that Saul and Jonathan his son are dead?” It is only at David's third question that the liar is unmasked. David, a spiritual man, already suspects the unlikelihood of this story: “I happened by chance to be upon mount Gilboa.” What? by chance?  - in the thick of battle? “Behold, Saul leaned on his spear; and, behold, the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him.” Here the Word itself convicts this man of lying. Saul had leaned upon his sword and it was not the horsemen but the archers who had threatened him (1 Sam. 31: 3-4). The remainder of his account is a bare-faced lie. Saul could not have asked the Amalekite to end his life, for the king's armorbearer did not kill himself until he had seen that Saul was dead (1 Sam. 31: 5). “So I stood over him and put him to death” (2 Sam. 1: 10).

This lying spirit emanates from that great enemy who could not understand the heart of Jesse's son. How could Satan, the wicked one, imagine that David was full of grace and love toward his enemies, that their defeat would fill his heart with unfeigned sorrow? But he was seeking above all to seduce David into receiving Saul's crown, the sign of his investiture with the kingdom, from his hand. His plot is foiled. Later, he will transport the Messiah, David's Son, to the top of a very high mountain, and there offer Him all the kingdoms of the world on condition that He render homage to him, and in this will suffer a new and supreme defeat.

When he learns of the fall of the royal family and of Israel, David immediately mourns. How touching is his attitude! “Then David took hold of his garments and rent them; and all the men that were with him did likewise. And they mourned, and wept, and fasted until even for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of Jehovah, and for the house of Israel; because they were fallen by the sword” (vv. 11-12). The man of God has forgotten everything: hatred, ambushes, persecutions, and the continual danger threatening his life; he remembers only one thing: that the Lord had entrusted His testimony to Saul and had anointed him, and that he had formerly led Israel to victory. He also mourns for Jonathan. And guilty as the people of God might be, he does not set himself apart from them as though he were not part of them, but weeps over their calamities.

What a solemn lesson for us! Judgment has already been pronounced and is ready to fall on Christendom which hates, despises, and often persecutes Christ's true witnesses. Do we have David's true feelings toward Christendom and her leaders? Do we mourn rather than rejoice? Are we distressed rather than condemnatory? Are our hearts afflicted at the thought that Satan is getting what he is expecting in the overthrow of that which bears Christ's name or professes to belong to Him? Such should always be the case. Tears shed over the ruin, and grace and pity toward those gone astray speak more to the hearts of the Lord's sheep who are mixed up in this state of things than do the most righteous criticisms. They also open the Lord's people's eyes to the necessity of seeking refuge with the Shepherd of Israel when the sword is already being raised for destruction.

The messenger silently witnesses this scene of affliction without understanding its meaning. He does not suspect the fate hanging over his head. Only then does David ask him his last question: “Whence art thou?” When Satan who can disguise himself as an angel of light seeks to tempt us, we must compel him to tell his origin and confess his real name. If we are with God, he will always in the end betray himself. This liar who had probably come to Gilboa only to spoil the dead had already let the name of his people slip from his mouth when he had reported Saul's supposed talk with himself. Now he cannot contradict himself. “I am the son of an Amalekite stranger” (v. 13). “How wast thou not afraid,” David says to him, “to stretch forth thy hand to destroy Jehovah's anointed?...Thy mouth has testified against thee” (vv. 14, 16). No, there can be nothing in common between David and Amalek, and David will never accept the crown from this Amalekite's hand. If indeed our hearts must be full of mercy with regard to the necessities and tribulations of God's faithless people and of those who, rejected like Saul, still bear His testimony, they must, however, be without mercy for the instruments sent by Satan to tempt us; they must without any hesitation whatsoever call evil evil and the enemy the enemy.

2 SAMUEL 1: 17-27 — THE SONG OF THE BOW

“And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan.” In this lament he expresses his grief over the disasters of Israel's leaders and their army, but this song of the bow is to be learned by the children of Judah (v. 18). It is an instruction for them. As witnesses of Israel's disaster they must know how to avoid such disaster in the future. Saul had been overcome by the archers (1 Sam. 31: 3) when he himself had been deprived of archers. Indeed, from 1 Chronicles 12: 1-7 we learn that before Saul's defeat the band of archers belonging to the tribe of Benjamin and in large part to the family of Kish had rallied around David and had joined him at Ziklag. This is why Saul “was much terrified” (1 Sam 31: 3) by the archers.

This Song of the Bow has a poignant refrain: “How are the mighty fallen!” (v. 19). “How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!” (v. 25). “How are the mighty fallen, and the instruments of war perished!” (v. 27). What did they lack? The bow which had overcome Saul!

Throughout Scripture the bow is the symbol of strength to conquer the enemy. The sword is used in hand-to-hand combat; the bow is used to attack from a distance, opposing the enemy's approach. The archer sees the enemy approaching in the distance, takes account of his movements and his plans, and levels him to the ground before he has opportunity to attack. The bow is a weapon requiring greater skill than the sword, but it is above all the symbol of strength, for it takes powerful arms and hands to draw a bow and make proper use of it.

Israel's mighty men with Saul at their head had met the bow of an enemy stronger than they. The error that led to their ruin was esteeming their own strength to be sufficient. But there is no strength without dependence, for strength is not to be found in us, but rather in Him whose strength is infallible on our behalf. The Man Jesus Christ is the example of this. He did not seek strength except in God nor would He otherwise have been the Perfect Man. Smitten by the archers (Gen. 49: 23-24), His strength did not leave Him. When His weakness appeared to succumb to the enemy's power His bow remained strong — His strength was full. This strength existed only in dependence: “The arms of His hands are supple by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Had He not already manifested God's power in His life through complete dependence on Him? All His acts were proof of this. Thus at the tomb of Lazarus He demonstrates His might by the resurrection of one who was dead and adds, “Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me” (John 11: 41).

In His death, although crucified in weakness, He was nevertheless the power of God. Before the cross all the strength of man and of Satan was reduced to nothing. Through death He overcame him who had the power of death. It is especially there that His bow remained firm and that His hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.

His resurrection is the public demonstration of this power of God in whom He trusted. God declared Him to be the Son of God in power by raising Him from among the dead. He had the power to take up His life again as He also had the power to lay down His life, but even when it came to His resurrection, His soul dependently waited on the power of God: “Thou wilt not leave My soul to Sheol, neither wilt Thou allow Thy Holy One to see corruption” (Ps. 16: 10). “From the horns of the buffaloes hast Thou answered Me” (Ps. 22: 21). “He brought Me up out of the horrible pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and set My feet upon a rock” (Ps. 40: 2). “Christ has been raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father” (Rom. 6: 4). “The surpassing greatness of [God's] power...in which He wrought in the Christ in raising Him from among the dead” (Eph. 1: 19-20).

This is not all. His bow will remain firm; His strength will be full forever. When the Son of Man comes to judge the nations the bow of brass that will strike down sinners will be in His hand. There again, it is His God who will gird Him with strength, who will teach His hands to war (Ps. 18: 32, 34). In this dependence He will pierce His enemies so that they cannot rise (Ps. 18: 38). His arrows will be sharp and will strike the heart of the king's enemies (Ps. 45: 5).

Yes, His bow remains firm and the arms of His hands are made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob until He comes to sit on the throne of His power forever.

Man may have a bow, but in his hands it fails when he uses it. “The sons of Ephraim, armed bowmen, turned back in the day of battle” (Ps. 78: 9), and as for the Lord's enemies, “the bow of the mighty is broken” (1 Sam. 2: 4; Ps. 46: 9; Jer. 49: 35; Hosea 1: 5; Hosea 2: 18).

As for ourselves, fellow Christians, our bow will remain whole on condition that we place our confidence in God who communicates His strength to us. “Go in this thy might,” the Lord says to Gideon (Judges 6: 14), and the apostle himself experienced that when he was weak, then he was strong (2 Cor. 12: 10). Nothing is weaker than a Christian who has given up Christ as his strength. We need to know how to use our bow and then, like Christ, the arms of our hands will be strong through the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob. Let us learn the song of the bow by exercising ourselves in drawing it, by aiming the arrow toward its mark. The more we use it, the stronger we will be against the enemy. The archers of Benjamin who found refuge with the son of Jesse — his faithful followers at the eleventh hour just prior to Israel's defeat — showed by this action that they did not trust in their bows, with Saul as their master, but rather trusted in the strength of the despised David. Let us do the same; let us gather around the rejected King. Let us not weep over our weakness, as though we were resourceless: this would not be faith, nor confidence in Christ. In very humble dependence let us count on His strength to make our hands firm to war for Him until the day when, the conflict ended, we shall enter His eternal rest.

David's lament is the touching expression of the affections of this man of God. A heart full of love has no room for resentment or complaints. If in the past David had wept at unjust accusations and hatred, he has now forgotten everything. There is no word of reproach against the man whose bones now lay under the tamarisk at Jabesh. But it is not enough for this noble heart to merely forget. He loves to remember. He recalls that Saul had been the Lord's anointed, the bearer of His testimony, that he had led His people to victory. He recognizes the natural gifts that had made him pleasant during his life and had attracted Israel's love to him. He sees him magnificently dressing the daughters of his people. His song expresses respect for and grief over the man who had always hated and persecuted him. His lament is Israel's lament — Israel against whom in a day of weakness he had thought to fight by joining himself to the Philistines. David now identifies himself with Israel and shares in its tears. Joy may be the portion of the daughters of the uncircumcised, but never will David share in it. Let the mountains of Gilboa, the witnesses of God's people's defeat, be accursed!

His anguish over Jonathan is unbounded. Oh! how the tender heart of the son of Jesse valued the affection of his friend! “I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant wast thou unto me; thy love to me was wonderful, passing women's love” (v. 26); his was a completely selfless affection, something that affection for one of the opposite sex can only with difficulty be. Jonathan had indeed stripped himself of his dignities and glory and the bow of his strength to give them to David in the day of his victory over Goliath. Then with all the warmth of his convictions he had pleaded the cause of his friend. Lastly, his admiration for the son of Jesse had not diminished during David's time of shame and exile — he had visited him then, although it is true he had lacked the courage to follow him. David says nothing about this last point. He covers the memory of his friend with inexpressible tenderness. He does not speak of his own love for him, but gives proof of it by exalting Jonathan's love.

Oh, how these words all bear the odor and fragrance of the heart of Christ! Only David had to be molded through discipline to produce such outpourings; Christ's heart had no such need. His entire life was only love and grace. “I have called you friends,” He says to those who were at the point of either denying Him or of fleeing and leaving Him alone. “Ye are they who have persevered with Me in my temptations,” He says in Luke 22: 28 to those who shortly afterward could not even watch one hour with Him! Let us follow the example of this perfect Model!

2 SAMUEL 2-4

THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED OVER JUDAH

2 SAMUEL 2 — HEBRON

While voicing a lamentation over Saul and Jonathan, David's purpose, as we have seen, was to teach the sons of Judah to use the bow. We have noted that for the believer the bow signifies God's strength which is manifested only in dependence. At the beginning of 2 Samuel 2 David's behavior illustrates this truth. The days of his affliction are past; a new era is beginning; the path to the throne is opening up before him; he is about to take the place that God had long before purposed for him. The first thing David now does is to consult the Lord, to show that he depends completely on Him. We could say that above all else, dependence is the characteristic feature of his career. Whether it be in the pastures of the sheep, grappling with the lion and the bear, confronting Goliath, in the wilderness of Judah, at Keilah, or at Ziklag (1 Sam. 30: 6-7), David is a dependent man and consequently a strong man. Nothing is more pleasing to God than this. Our walk's uncertainties and vacillations are explained by our lack of dependence. Where this dependence exists we will ever be asking ourselves that most important question: “What is God's will? What work has He prepared for us? We will inquire of Him to know the answer, for we consult Him when we depend on Him. Thus our path will be simple and blessed because it will be God's path. The path will not be a complicated one unless we fail to turn to God before making a decision.

Nevertheless, there were occasions in David's life when he forgot to consult the Lord. Often the enemy attacks us at points where we consider ourselves invulnerable. We can say that David's history, a model of dependence, shows us independence and its dangers and consequences more than the history of any other life. Twice we have seen David going down to the court of the king of the Philistines on his own initiative. The first time he reaped only disdain and humiliation; the second time, governed by fear and thinking to save his life, he forsook the blessed experiences of the wilderness of Judah, lost his character as a witness, and ran the danger of allying himself with the uncircumcised in a project of fighting against God's people. Under discipline, he learned again to consult the Lord and recovered everything that he had forfeited through his lack of faith.2 In 2 Samuel 6 we shall see that lack of faith was the cause of the “breach upon Uzzah.” All these incidents are sources of practical instruction for our souls.

“David enquired of Jehovah, saying, Shall I go up into one of the cities of Judah? And Jehovah said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And He said, Unto Hebron” (2 Sam. 2: 1). It is God who chooses the special place where His anointed is to go. David left to himself might perhaps have hesitated to choose from among many places, but God designates one place alone for His servant: that place was Hebron.

In the book of Joshua3 we have noted the significance of Hebron: a burial place, a place of death, the end of man, a striking picture of what the cross of Christ is for us. According to God's mind, it was necessary that David go up to Hebron, for Hebron was the point at which his reign, typically speaking, must begin, David's reign being but a type of Christ's reign which is based on the cross. Christ's kingdom is the consequence and the reward of His cross. The elders gathered around the throne sing a new song: “Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open its seals; because Thou hast been slain” (Rev. 5: 9). He will usher in all the governmental ways of God, ways that lead Him to His millennial throne, because He has suffered and shed His precious blood — eternal wonder! In heaven we see in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and the elders a Lamb slain who is the center of all. He is not on the throne, but in the midst of the throne (Rev. 5: 6). All God's counsels written within the book and all God's ways written on its backside issue forth from Him, its center, and head up in Him. He rises; these ways open up; the four living creatures, these attributes of the divine judgments, begin to move; the kingly rights of the Lion of Judah are established; and God's counsels are accomplished forever. The “it is done” of eternity has its starting point at the shameful gibbet where the Son of Man suffered, where the world nailed the Son of God!

But Hebron is also the gathering center of those whom David loves. There his companions dwell around him. “His men that were with him did David bring up, every man with his household; and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron” (v. 3). There where David resides, his own have many dwellingplaces. Thus the Lamb that was slain, the King of eternity, will be “in the midst of the elders” who are types of all the glorified saints. While we are awaiting this glorious moment His cross is that which gathers us around Himself. It remains and will always remain the gathering center of the children of God.

Hebron also becomes the gathering center of all the tribes of Israel (2 Sam. 5: 1). When God's earthly people recognize Him whom they have pierced and submit themselves to Him, they will be the primary object of the blessings of His reign. Still another event seems to be indicated in these verses. “David went up thither, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite” (v. 2). The man of sorrows, the rejected king, not only has companions and a people at Hebron, but also his wife and bride. Abigail, like Rebecca, is one of the rare types in the Old Testament who prefigures the Church; she is the Bride, David's voluntary, humble, joyful associate during the days of his rejection. Ahinoam, who is more in the background, represents rather, as I see it, the remnant of Israel who have entered into relationship with the Messiah before the establishment of His reign.4 However it may be, at Hebron David has ties more intimate than merely his relationships with his people. Thus at the end of Revelation we see the Bride of the Lamb associated with Him in all His glory, and in the prophets Jerusalem is recognized as the beloved of the Lord. Thus by His death Christ becomes the center of blessing for all.

“The men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah” (v. 4). Just as with David's reign, so the reign of Christ will not be established in this world by a sudden dramatic stroke. His judgment will be sudden, but not His reign. That would not be according to the mind of God who desires to give the consciences of those who are His own time to be exercised. Christ must have a willing people in the day of His power (Ps. 110:3) — not a people like those of the nations who, except for the great multitude of those saved from among the Gentiles, will only approach the king with flattering, lying words of apparent submission. Here David is first recognized by those who had been his companions during his rejection, and next Judah gathers around him. Then (2 Sam. 5: 1) the other tribes come after they have lost the support of the flesh, pictured by the person of Ish-bosheth. Lastly (2 Sam. 5: 11) the nations approach, charmed by the king's grace and delighted to serve him.

The continuation of this chapter offers important events, part of which we will return to in the following chapter. First, according to the spirit of grace that characterizes him, David praises the men of Jabesh-gilead because they had showed kindness toward Saul and had buried him. He tells them that Judah has anointed him as king, and thus this news penetrates to the far  borders of Israel's territory.

Next we find Abner, captain of Saul's army, who is unwilling to submit to David. Abner is an honorable man according to the world's standards, very valiant, with natural nobility of heart, but he has a violent and proud character. In supporting Ish-bosheth he is supporting the principle of succession by fleshly ties, clothed with the appearance of right, for Saul had been chosen by God. Men defend this principle to the extreme, for it is the principle of their fathers' religion, national religion, which is much more respectable in man's sight than the opinion of some who make themselves conspicuous by following the son of Jesse. An entire political system is linked with this religious system. It must be good since God has put His seal on it in a far past and thus respectable period. Abner uses his natural energy to defend it. What objection is there? Only that this entire system is opposed to the mind of God and makes war against His anointed. Men fight for their own cause and, like Saul of Tarsus at a later date, they find themselves enemies of Him to whom God has given supremacy.

It is worth noting that David does not appear in this conflict and plays no role in it, even when it appears that it concerns him. One of his attendants, Joab, accompanied by his brothers, leads the king's servants. In 1 Chronicles 2: 16 we see that they were David's nephews, his sister Zeruiah's sons. Accordingly, they held a high position and were closely related to the royal house. Joab, an ambitious man, seeks to advance in the world and to win the first place in the kingdom. Though he is not named — with just cause — among “David's mighty men,” he is a man of courage. He can appreciate righteousness and unrighteousness, but he does not oppose unrighteousness except when it runs counter to his personal designs; and when something righteous runs contrary to his interests he suppresses it. Nothing stops him; he has no scruples in satisfying his ambition. Someone has said of him: “We find Joab wherever there is evil to do or much to gain.” Joab is a figure of political flesh. It is to his advantage to support David's cause. If we compare Abner with Joab, Abner is the better man. Nevertheless Joab comes on the scene as a champion of the testimony. On this man the weight of military and other matters will soon be resting; he is the man who will direct things in an under-handed way and who will set many an intrigue in motion. In the presence of such cleverness David himself feels weak (2 Sam. 3: 39). The moment the flesh takes over the testimony, see the result: ruin, nothing but ruin. One man is fighting for David, and the other for one whom God no longer recognizes. Is one better than the other? When the flesh is supporting David — or Christ — the results are no better than when the flesh is supporting the Antichrist.

The two troops meet (vv. 12-17). For what purpose? To test their strength. Where is God? Absent. Where is David? His name is not even mentioned. It is a matter of who will come out on top in this tourney. Not a single one of the contending parties escapes. David loses his servants and his cause is not advanced in the least.

The sequel of this singular contest is an ordered battle in which Joab loses a cherished brother toward whom Abner had shown his natural nobility of character. But Asahel would not take heed; he charges forward, filled with presumption and, victim to his own desire for glory, falls to the ground, struck down by Abner's spear. Joab will not forget this death but will satisfy his desire for vengeance then when this will bring him the greatest advantage.

Alas! what is the result of all these struggles? We find nothing of God and nothing for God in them. Even the world in appearance contends under Christ's banner. The soul of the faithful has no other resource but to seek refuge at Hebron with the one who is the only center of blessing and whose presence gives peace, happiness, and wonderful rest. But when our David rises to do battle let us follow Him bravely, for to fight with Him is to win a sure and enduring victory over the enemy.

2 SAMUEL 3 — ABNER

At the beginning of 2 Samuel 2 we have seen David's blessed dependence at the moment when he was named king of Judah. The gradual establishment of his kingdom has turned our thoughts to the future when Christ's reign will be established in power. But 2 Samuel 2 also mentions a fact not yet alluded to and worth noting. The kingdom has barely been established when the tone of the account changes, turning our attention to sad, humiliating circumstances.

This is because David is not only a type of Christ but also — we will see this many times as the book continues — the representative of a kingdom entrusted to the hands of man and responsible to maintain it. As king, David possesses power (but not yet all power) on behalf of God. He is free to use this power for good as he sees fit; he is free to humble or exalt the men who surround him at his pleasure and to engage them for his purposes; lastly, he is free to issue ordinances and decrees for the good of his people and for the glory of his God. But, alas! this formidable responsibility and this almost unlimited power have been entrusted to a mere man. Indeed, originally royalty was not restricted, as in our days, by all sorts of laws, nor was it more or less under the control of the will of the people. The king, according to the Word, was responsible only to God. He answered for the behavior of the people, and if the people fell into error the king had to bear the consequent judgment. We shall see what becomes of this authority in David's hands.

2 Samuel 2 (vv. 8-32) already shows us the beginning of this history. David is surrounded by his relatives, valiant men who aspire to have the first place among the captains. The sons of Zeruiah might claim this rank according to the flesh, but according to God they had no greater claim to it than did the others: to the contrary. Abishai did not attain to the “first three”; Asahel was among “the thirty” (2 Sam. 23). Joab, as we have seen, is not even named among the mighty men. But courageous and clever as he was, as well as ambitious, deceitful, cruel, and a man of blood whenever he met an obstacle to the realization of his plans, and being very shrewd in playing on the king's spirit by flattering his weaknesses (2 Sam. 14), this man managed to direct matters, at least in appearance, according to his own will.

Throughout the entire second portion of 2 Samuel 2 the king disappears before these men. The men surrounding him become restless, make decisions, and fight against the enemy from the house of Saul without even dreaming of consulting the one who alone had the right to take any initiative. Sad accompaniment of power! In the days of his tribulations David, so to speak, breathed his own character into his companions, or on the other hand in face of their rebellion he sought refuge with the Lord and inquired of Him (1 Sam. 30: 6-8). Here, while responsible for the authority which he has, he lets it slip out of his control, and his companions who make it appear that they are using this authority for his cause in reality use it to compromise the character of the Lord and of His anointed. The designs of those who surround the throne create multiple difficulties for the king throughout his entire reign, and he confesses that he is too weak to direct their way of thinking and repress their acts.

2 Samuel 3 continues this same history. In presence of such difficulties David's only safeguard was to live in dependence on the Lord. Discipline will cause him to find this dependence once again. But here the Spirit of God wants to teach us that the believer who has received a position of authority from God soon loses the awareness of his dependence because of the flesh which dwells in him. As he exercises power he begins to have confidence in himself without realizing his need for the Lord's help, as he had back in the time when he wandered like a partridge hunted on the mountains. Before the crown was on his head except on rare occasions he would inquire of God, not taking a single step without Him; but from the moment he receives the crown he forgets his safeguard. He will again find this a little later after he has made bitter experiences, for we must remember that in David  - and this is one of the leading features of his character — discipline always bears admirable fruit. This continues to the very last moments of his life and to his very last words.

We too need to be disciplined in order to learn dependence. If we allow our will, which is nothing other than independence, to be active, the Lord must break us so that He may bring us back under His blessed yoke which is so light and easy to bear.

The first five verses of our chapter offer a striking example of what we have just said. David takes several wives at Hebron besides Ahinoam and Abigail, his companions in his wanderings. Had he inquired of the Lord before doing so, what would the Lord have replied? Read my Word! Dependence on God and dependence on His Word are one and the same thing. David had the books of the law in hand, and he needed only to meditate on them in order to see his path. Does it not say in Deuteronomy 17: 17 concerning the king: “Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away”? He might have all sorts of good reasons according to man's mind for doing as he did: to secure a royal posterity and so on, but this was not according to God. To be convinced of this we need only trace the descendants of his wives. Had David had only godly Abigail as his companion, would he have seen an Amnon bring shame and dishonor upon his house, an Absalom rebel against his own father, or an Adonijah try to seize control of the kingdom and ask for the Shunammite to be his wife?

Not content with these marriages, this man of God who can do as he will — how dangerous this liberty is — demands from Ishbosheth his wife Michal (2 Sam. 3: 13-16), become an adulteress by taking another husband — Michal, Saul's daughter, who after having loved David in times past with a love according to the fleshly nature, will later show her disdain for the seed of God whose piety and devotion to the Lord's interests she could not understand (2 Sam. 6: 20-23). David takes this adulterous woman from her home, instead of leaving her to her new husband. Thus he breaks the heart of this man, an honest man after all, deeply devoted to his companion, and who follows her weeping without dreaming of rebelling against the established authority.

Such, alas, is this pious king as he makes use of the still limited but soon to be unlimited authority which God is placing in his hands.

We need not be surprised that Abner knowingly and willingly resists the Lord by supporting Ishbosheth. Abner knows that David is the Lord's anointed: “So do God to Abner, and more also, if, as Jehovah has sworn to David, I do not so to him!” (v. 9), and later (v. 18): “Jehovah has spoken of David, saying, By My servant David will I save My people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies.” Abner is aware that he is not on God's side, but not having the Lord as the object of his plans and activity he hardly cares about such a contradiction between his opinions and his conduct. Abner only pretends to defend a politico-religious system of succession. It is an honor to be able to say that one is among the direct descendants of that which God had established. And if God has replaced Saul's kingdom and the forms of a lifeless religion with David's kingdom and with the religious resources which He gives His people in the midst of ruin, what does that matter to Abner? Despite all this he is determined to support the house of Saul. Ishbosheth relies on him, but let him beware of offending this firm supporter of his throne. When he wants to oppose Abner's corruption, Abner with his wounded pride will abandon his master and turn to David. “Am I a dog's head?” he asks, and openly announces his plans to Ishbosheth. He carries them out in broad daylight with all the openness of his character, and that poor king with no strength to reply can only tremble before his threats. But in all this we see divine providence which, hidden beneath men's passions and even working through them, is preparing the path of His anointed.

We watch these events without expecting anything for God on part of those who like Abner do not belong to Him. But what are we to think of David? Why doesn't he consult the Lord when this covenant is proposed to him? He had refused the crown from the hand of the Amalekite; he will refuse it from the hand of Ishbosheth's murderers; but will he accept it from Abner's hand? Yes, because he feels free to do so, because he has all sorts of reasons to act thus for the good of his kingdom. This covenant will smooth out difficulties; war has lasted long enough.... All this is very reasonable according to man, but it is not according to the mind of God.

Abner speaks to the eleven tribes, succeeds in convincing them — even the tribe of Benjamin, allied to Saul — and then comes to give David an account of his proceedings. “And Abner said to David, I will arise and go, and will gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with thee, and that thou mayest reign over all that thy heart desires” (v. 21). But God is opposed to this; He does not wish David to receive the kingdom from any hand other than His own. No one is to boast of having established the Lord's anointed on the throne. And what is more, how could He permit the pride of man's heart to carve out the steps by which David rises to power? Abner is assassinated. God is able to turn man's very worst iniquities to fulfill His designs. He uses Joab's infamous act to cut off the man in whom David had already placed his confidence.

Joab commits murder in a time of peace and thus avenges himself for Asahel's death, even though Abner had “slain [him] in the battle” (v. 30), proof that there was nothing reprehensible in Abner's act (cf. 2 Sam. 2: 20-23). This is the personal motive behind this terrible act, but anyone knowing Joab and his ambition to become captain of the host suspects another motive. Joab fears Abner's worth and authority which at that time had been demonstrated much more than his own merits. If Abner should succeed in concluding an alliance, wouldn't he have the first place? Joab has everything to gain through his vengeance.

So Abner is not to restore the kingdom. Joab would be still less the one to restore it, for without divine intervention the murder he committed would have triggered a longer, more pitiless war than the one which had just come to an end.

What gains the heart of Israel is the king's indignation against this evil, his distress about a crime which had dishonored the character of the Lord and of His anointed. David's humiliation, his fasting, his public mourning in the presence of all the people — this is what wins over Israel. “And all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of the king to put Abner the son of Ner to death” (v. 37).

Ah, how David recovers the precious features of his character in the midst of these difficult circumstances! Repudiating any solidarity with this evil, he proves that, “in every way [he was] pure in the matter” (2 Cor. 7: 11). He invokes God's judgment on Joab: “Let [the blood of Abner the son of Ner] fall on the head of Joab, and on all his father's house; and let there not fail from the house of Joab one that has an issue, or that is a leper, or that leans on a staff, or that falls by the sword, or that lacks bread!” (v. 29). And again: “Jehovah reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness!” (v. 39). Later this judgment of God pronounced by David is executed (1 Kings 2: 31-34).

When it comes to Abner, David the king again finds those accents of grace which David rejected had used with regard to Saul. He laments over Abner: “Should Abner die as a fool dieth? Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters; as a man falleth before wicked men, fellest thou” (vv. 33-34). He proclaims that “a prince and a great man” had fallen that day in Israel” (v. 38).

Alas, even with power in his hands what could he have done against these “wicked men?” God alone could have worked for good. The sons of Zeruiah were too hard for David (v. 39). He himself recognized his weakness as it became manifest at that time. How we can empathize with David when he says: “I am this day weak, though anointed king!” (v. 39). That which is taking place touches his heart as a serious form of discipline. Yes, you were weak indeed, beloved servant of the Lord, despite your anointing, but do not fear; God will be your strength and your safeguard in weakness, and your feet will be kept from falling if you seek your strength in communion with Him. Such is the case for us too. Two inseparable things are our safeguard: the realization of our weakness, joined with dependence on God and His Word. In this chapter David began by using his power and, acting on his own initiative, he did not consult the Lord. The events overwhelming him lead him to become aware of his incapability, but now once again he will be swift to learn the dependence which he had so quickly forgotten.

In the midst of all these events, Ishbosheth loses his kingdom. He was completely dependent on Abner who had assured him of victory and had maintained him on the throne. Once this man is removed, Ishbosheth has nothing left. When he tries to oppose Abner's lack of respect to his father's memory, he is abandoned by this man who had supported him. This too is what is destroying the whole strength of professing Christendom, which attempts more or less to establish itself on human religious succession. For its survival Christendom has associated itself with the governments and powers of a world at enmity against Christ, and so it has become their slave and is powerless to oppose their disorder or to reprove them. I am here speaking not so much of Roman Catholicism, which like the great whore pretends to “sit on the beast” and govern it (Rev. 17), as of the Reformation which soon degenerated by abandoning the principle of faith and seeking its support from this world's great men. The necessary consequence of this was ruin. Let us be content to separate ourselves from all man's intervention in religious things, and may we say like David, realizing our incapability to rectify evil: “These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too hard for me.”

2 SAMUEL 4 — ISHBOSHETH

This chapter is the last one that records the preludes to David's reign. Satan, the seducer, is not discouraged in his evil work against the Lord's anointed and, driven back the first time, does not fear to attack again. In 2 Samuel 1 he had offered the crown to David through an Amalekite. According to man's thoughts it would have been quite natural to accept it, but David cannot accept any gift whatsoever from the hand of an enemy. His faith triumphs. He punishes him who “was in his own sight a messenger of good.” “I took hold of him,” David says, “and slew him in Ziklag, who thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings” (2 Sam. 4: 10 KJV). Thwarted thus, the enemy is not afraid to take the offensive again. Meanwhile David had received the rule over Judah from the hand of God (2 Sam. 2). But with regard to the rule over Israel (2 Sam. 3) he had been tempted by Abner's propositions, proffered insidiously so that the king was less prepared to resist them. We have seen God intervening and delivering him, using Joab's iniquity to this end. Thus the covenant with the eleven tribes, the fruit of man's planning, is brought to nothing. Not from this quarter is David to obtain the crown.

Nevertheless danger is not averted, for the great seducer does not weary. Two wicked and criminal men assassinate Saul's son, whom David himself calls “a righteous person” (v. 11).5 Baanah and Rechab bring Ishbosheth's head to the king and by their crime open the way for him to reign over all Israel: “Behold the head of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, thine enemy who sought thy life; and Jehovah has given to my lord the king to be avenged this day of Saul and of his seed” (v. 8). Instead of accepting their offer David, holy in his ways, judges the evil, hates it, and separates himself from it.

The arm of flesh was indispensable to Ishbosheth. When Abner was murdered “his hands were enfeebled, and all Israel was troubled” (v. 1), for the son of Saul had “a great man” to support his throne, and everything collapsed when this support failed him. Such was not the case with David. Experience had led him to know the value of man and the value of God. This experience, it is true, is often repeated in a believer's life. When every natural support fails, even that given by God Himself, we are found in most absolute weakness. This is a lesson we must learn, for as Christians we often place our confidence in foundations that can be shaken. Then our faith is put to the test, and it becomes a matter of knowing whether God is a sufficient resource for us.

Thus we experience what is mentioned in Psalm 30: 6: “As for me, I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved.” David was a man of faith who had learned many things during the trials of the First Book of Samuel. But when he wrote the thirtieth Psalm as the “dedication-song of the house,” all the experiences of this First Book were already past. “Jehovah, by Thy favor Thou hadst made my mountain to stand strong” (v. 7). This is not Mount Zion, the mountain of God, which cannot be shaken, but here he is speaking of himself and the human resources that are his from God. If these resources fail us, what will our state of soul be? Will our hands be feeble like those of Ishbosheth, or will we enjoy settled peace and firm assurance? Alas! how often we must reply: “Thou didst hide Thy face; I was troubled” (v. 7).

Whatever our difficulties may be, we must watch that they do not influence our state of soul. If faith is active, we will refuse to seek help in external circumstances. Thus David says in Psalm 11: 1: “In Jehovah have I put my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?” When we go through trials the world tells us: Seek your help in the mountain; use the resources which you have laid up for yourself in this world. Faith answers with David: No, for there is no foundation here on earth which will not be destroyed, but “Jehovah is in the temple of His holiness; Jehovah — His throne is in the heavens” (Ps. 11: 4); that is where I take refuge.

At Ziklag David in anguish “strengthened himself in Jehovah his God” (1 Sam. 30: 6). Ishbosheth did not know this resource. In those happy days when God's favor gives stability and strength to our mountain we must carefully and daily seek the true source of our strength. Then if difficulties arise we will not be like fearful little birds carried about, one knows not where, by the stormy wind; but we will know how to seek our refuge in an evil day in the One who gathers His chicks under His wings, in whose shadow we will rejoice! (Ps. 63: 7).

By murdering Ishbosheth Rechab and Baanah blaze a path for David to the throne. We are faced with the question whether he had the right to take advantage of the situation. A more exercised spiritual sensibility would have caused him to refuse the covenant that Abner had proposed to him in the preceding chapter. Here he understands that not only can he not make use of the human assistance which is being offered to him, but that he must also refuse it as being offered by Satan. This is what we must do too when the world offers to help us.

This history shows us that God uses everything to accomplish His designs of grace toward David: Abner, Joab, Rechab and Baanah. He disapproves of them, certainly, but His providence causes even evil itself to contribute to the furtherance of His ways. Evil will be judged, but it will have served to advance God's counsels. Is not the cross the supreme proof of the way He works?

And now, if God uses these means do I have the right to use them? In no way, for God is sovereign and I am not. He may make use of evil, even of Satan himself, as He will; I am a creature, dependent upon Him, and I must obey. Obedience causes me to walk in the path that God's Word reveals to me, a path of holiness separating me from evil and from the world. When the world offers me its services I refuse them, for I have to do with God. “As Jehovah liveth, who has redeemed my soul out of all distress...” (v. 9). Such is the One in whom I trust. I will receive nothing from the world because I depend on the Lord.

At a time of revival not long ago (a revival spoiled from its very beginning by unscriptural doctrines which are still bearing their sad fruit today, but a revival in which God nevertheless worked in converting souls) someone asked a certain servant of God, Why do you not associate yourself in this activity? Isn't it evident that God is at work here through His Spirit? The servant answered in these words which, no doubt, were not understood: “The Spirit blows where He will, but I must obey.” This answer illustrates what we have just said. God is sovereign; He alone may use evil, but I have no option but to withdraw from evil.

This mixing of good and evil is like a stream flowing with polluted water. Shall I drink of this water that may poison me? I cannot, but this stream is absorbed by the river into which it flows. The river is a great waterway receiving water from the muddiest of streams and bearing them to the sea. So it is with the ways of God; His ways make use of the most unlikely elements to feed the vast sea of His counsels. The sea engulfs and deposits in its depths — in other words, judges — every impure element so that nothing but pure water rises from the sea to the sky to which the sun draws it. This is the work of the sea and the sun and not our work.

But David might have reasoned like this: By allowing this murder, God providentially is giving the throne to me; I am therefore free to accept the throne at the hands of these murderers. He would have been deceived, for even God's providence may place us in circumstances where our faith is put to the test in order that we may refuse to accept the things set before us. We have an example of this in Moses at Pharaoh's court. Providence had not led him here so that he might accept this position and enjoy “the pleasures of sin for a season,” but that when the moment was come he might separate himself from it by faith. Thus his faith was exercised and, confronted with the alternative of adoption by Pharaoh's daughter on the one hand or suffering affliction with the people of God on the other, he did not hesitate to choose the latter.

Likewise here to David the circumstances seem to open the way to the throne that God wanted to give him. With indignation David refuses any complicity with evil and orders the execution of the guilty men. These lessons are very important for us, for we are continually faced with the same principles. If God puts us in an easy position here on earth it is not His purpose to establish us in it. Rather He wants our faith to learn to break these bonds and, freed from hindrances, joyfully leave them to walk before the Lord. May we then know when evil is presented to us in any form whatsoever, to judge it like David did, and openly refuse it and have no fellowship with it.

David's act at the end of this chapter thus was according to God's mind. “David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up over the pool in Hebron” (v. 12). David, having authority, was responsible to exercise it in holiness and righteousness in order that this terrible chastisement would serve as an example.

This chapter offers us still another instruction that is useful and should not be omitted, for despite his personal experiences David remains a type of Christ until 2 Samuel 11. The event I am speaking of here is that before obtaining kingly rights over all the tribes David is misunderstood by all: no one appreciates his motives.

Beeroth was a city of the Gibeonites with whom the people of Israel had once made a covenant (Joshua 9). Beeroth was considered a part of Benjamin (2 Sam. 4: 2), the tribe of Saul, David's ardent enemy. “The Beerothites had fled to Gittaim, and were sojourners there until this day” (v. 3). The cause of their flight is not definitely stated, but this event is presented in relation to Baanah and Rechab, the sons of a Beerothite. We may conclude the account of their flight to be anticipatory, and that it did not actually take place until after the judgment which David pronounced on these murderers. At that time all the Beerothites seem to have become frightened and fled to Gittaim.

This is because these men did not know David. They supposed that the king entertained a desire for vengeance and would seek to satisfy it by holding them jointly liable for the murder committed by two of Beeroth's citizens. If they had known David they would rather have sought refuge with him by entrusting themselves to his grace. Theirs is the attitude of the world toward the Lord Jesus. Being unable to trust in a heart which they do not know and fearing His judgment, the world prefers to flee rather than to enter into contact with Him. In the parable of the talents the servant who hid his talent in the earth likewise misjudged this master so full of grace. When called into His presence to give account of his stewardship, he said to him, “My lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man” (Matt. 25: 24).

In verse 4 an event following Saul's death takes us yet further back into the past. Mephibosheth's nurse had fled, carrying this five-year-old child in her arms. This story is the same as that of the Beerothites: the very same misapprehension of the son of Jesse, the very same feelings so natural to man's heart. David, learning of the death of Saul and Jonathan, had mourned and lamented over them, but it does not enter this poor woman's mind that he might not execute vengeance on his friend's son. She flees rather than running to the one who had sworn to Jonathan and even to Saul that he would not wipe out their descendants. She does not trust in David's love and sure word any more than sinners trust in the grace and word of Christ. The result was that Mephibosheth “fell, and became lame.” David finds him later, afflicted and lame as a consequence of the lack of faith of this woman who had not taken advantage of the favorable moment to entrust her burden to the hands of Jonathan's friend.

Rechab and Baanah are also ignorant of David's character, of this man whose heart rejects evil. They run headlong to their ruin because they did not properly know the holiness of the Lord's anointed. They think that they can approach him in their sin without David abhorring it, and without him thrusting aside these hands defiled by the blood of a righteous man.

In fact, only His own can know the true David and can approach Him in all confidence, being assured that His mercy endures forever and His promises are sure.

Thy words, always faithful,

Lord, will never pass away,

And our soul which believes them

Henceforth has nothing to fear!

2 SAMUEL 5-24

THE KINGDOM OVER ISRAEL

2 SAMUEL 5-10

DAVID BEFORE HIS FALL

2 SAMUEL 5: 1-10 — THE STRONGHOLD OF ZION

Moved by a spirit of vengeance against Ishbosheth, Abner had commended David to the eleven tribes: “Jehovah has spoken of David, saying, By My servant David will I save My people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies” (2 Sam. 3: 18). In one sense Abner was a messenger of the Lord to bring the hearts of the people back to His anointed; but there was a great gulf between his functions and his moral condition. We can find instruction for ourselves here. God may act through a man who proclaims truths that are according to God although in heart he has no relationship to God Himself. It was becoming for Israel to listen to Abner's words, but it was not becoming that they should be attached to his person. When we listen to those who present the Word of God we must be careful to distinguish between the person and the message he announces, and we must not attribute to the person an importance which belongs to the Scriptures alone. How happy it is if we see that the conduct of the one speaking is consistent with his doctrine and inseparable from it! Such was the case of Timothy with respect to the apostle Paul; he could know and follow both his doctrine and his conduct (2 Tim. 3: 10) because both were in such close accord in the great apostle to the Gentiles. It is well to insist on this point: gift is distinct from moral condition. When a man has a gift he must judge himself before God continually, so that his moral state may be consistent with the gift entrusted to him. If on the one hand there is great danger for listeners to follow a man because of his gift, on the other hand there is an equal danger that the one who speaks may act without having his heart and walk consistent with the truths which he presents.

Indeed, Abner's words had no real effect on the people because the Spirit of God was not at work in their hearts. In no way did they change their behavior until Ishbosheth had been removed from the scene and only then, when their prop had been taken away from them, did “all the tribes of Israel [come] to David to Hebron” (v. 1).

What is remarkable about the state of these tribes is that they knew and had always known what God thought of David. The people say: “Even aforetime, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel; and Jehovah said to thee, Thou shalt feed My people Israel, and thou shalt be prince over Israel” (v. 2). They knew this perfectly well, but this knowledge had had no effect on their consciences. The same phenomenon occurs today among Christians. God's Word is familiar to them; they know God's thoughts concerning His Son and His Church, but these truths have no practical effect on them. These truths have not sunk into their consciences. This is where we must look for the main reason for the divisions existing among God's children. One follows one group, another follows another; one accepts this doctrine, another an opposite doctrine; one boasts in a certain man, another in another man. Such differences are not due so much to the state of their understanding as to the state of their consciences, and the fact that they do not feel it necessary to walk according to the truth they know.

The first three verses of our chapter show us that Israel lacked one more thing. They had had no affection for David; their affection had been for Ishbosheth. When the heart is turned to the world it cannot be turned to the man according to God. How can one possibly unite Christians around Christ when their thoughts are taken up with earthly things and their hearts are unreached by the Lord's grace and beauty? His person has little value for a divided heart; that heart does not seek after Him. But if consciences are reached, soon hearts will be reached also: “Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh” (v. 1). Now these Israelites proclaim their relationship to David; they had been well aware of this relationship, but they had failed to recognize it as a fact that should govern all else. Then all at once they remember what God had said concerning His beloved. When the Spirit begins to work in souls the conscience speaks up, the heart turns to Christ, and one is led to acknowledge His sovereignty and His rights. “They anointed David king over Israel” (v. 3). “David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Jehovah” and by this pact recognized Israel as being his people from that time forth.

This chapter inaugurates the second period of David's reign. From this time onward he is king over all Israel at Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit underscores this distinction in verse 5: “In Hebron [David] reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.”

So it will be for Christ: this book considered in the light of prophecy is of particular interest as a history typifying the establishment of Christ's reign. In the Second Book of Samuel, let us repeat, it is not a question of the kingdom being established (such will not be the case until Solomon), but rather it is a question of founding the kingdom in the person of David, which is quite another thing. Therefore we find here God's ways in founding David's throne, gathering the twelve tribes around him, and bringing the nations into submission to him by subjugating his enemies.

Now that David has been recognized as king by all Israel, we see a series of events taking place in relation to this proclamation.

The first of these events is of prime importance (vv. 6-9). Often facts of immense bearing are treated by the Word in a very few verses. We cannot measure the value that God sets on an event by the length of the account about it. Sometimes a short parenthesis contains a vast amount of most profound truths, for example: the parenthesis in the first chapter of Ephesians which unfolds the counsels of God concerning Christ and the Church (Eph. 1: 20-23). Likewise the first three verses of Revelation 21 introduce us into all the glories of eternity. And again, Psalm 23 in six verses gives us the entire life, conduct, and experiences of the believer on earth from the cross to his introduction into the house of the Lord. We could vastly multiply these examples. We find one such example in the passage before us now. It concerns the capture of Jerusalem. This is the beginning of an entirely new manner in which God now acts: it is the establishment of His grace in the person of the king — power united with grace in order to accomplish God's intentions when on man's side everything has failed.

The Book of Judges and the First Book of Samuel (not to mention the books of Moses) have already presented this latter truth: the complete ruin in man's hands of all that God had entrusted to his responsibility. Israel placed under the law was ruined as a people; the judges were ruined, the priesthood was ruined, and the kingdom according to the flesh was ruined; all this was now irrevocably ended. Faced with all this ruin, “What hath God wrought?” (Num. 23: 23). Once the end of the people's history under law has been manifested, His grace is manifested. Grace would not be grace if it did not concern itself with fallen creatures. Its fullness bursts forth when the people's history in responsibility has ended in irremediable ruin. God chooses the moment when the king according to His own heart is proclaimed to take possession of Jerusalem and give it to David.

What reason did God have to interest Himself in this place more than in another? There was no reason whatsoever except that He loved this city which had been under the power of the Jebusites, the enemies of Jehovah and of His anointed. His heart was attached to this place, for this is where He desired to definitively establish the throne of His grace on earth. “Jehovah hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for His dwelling: this is My rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it” (Ps. 132: 13-14). “His foundation is in the mountains of holiness. Jehovah loveth the gates of Zion more than all the habitations of Jacob” (Ps. 87: 1-2).

This is what God says of Zion: He loved it. When His eyes looked out over the earth they rested on this special place in view of making it His dwelling place. “Why do ye look with envy, ye many-peaked mountains, upon the mount that God hath desired for His abode? Yea, Jehovah will dwell there for ever” (Ps. 68: 16). This is therefore the place which God chose, the place of His good pleasure, because this is where He in grace introduces and establishes His king. Is it not also the place where the Son of David would lay the foundation of eternal salvation? Jesus, the Root of David, is the King of grace when all is ruined, just as Jesus, the Offspring of David, the true Solomon, will be the king of glory.

Mount Zion offers the most complete contrast to Mount Sinai. In Hebrews 12: 22 the apostle tells the Jews who had been delivered from the law and become Christians: “Ye have come to mount Zion; and to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem.” This is an absolute change in God's ways concerning Israel. 2 Samuel 5: 6-9 indicates to us the moment in history when this change took place, when God chose a new mountain in contrast to Sinai in order to establish the stronghold of David there forever. In actual fact, this transfer could not be realized for Israel at that time on account of the unfaithfulness of the king in responsibility, and the people must wait for the establishment of Christ's reign in order to be introduced into the blessings of this new covenant. For us Christians this transfer has already taken place. “Ye have come to mount Zion,” says the apostle. None of the requirements, none of the terrors of Sinai exist any more for those who believe. While yet here on earth we have found the mountain of grace in that place where the cross of Christ was set up. We have set our foot on this sure foundation, the first rung for ascending up into all the heavenly blessings, from “the city of the living God” to “the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven.” All these things belong to us now; soon we will possess them in glory.

The various passages of this chapter correspond to other passages in First Chronicles, which sometimes gives us additional details concerning these events. The capture of Jerusalem is related in 1 Chronicles 11: 4-9. In our present chapter the Jebusites say to David: “Thou shalt not come in hither, but the blind and the lame will drive thee back” (v. 6). They were so sure of their walls and of their impregnable stronghold that they did not judge it necessary to use sound, healthy men to repel the king's attack; even these disabled people would be well sufficient for this task, they thought. “But David took the stronghold of Zion” (v. 7). Not another word about it; the project succeeded as simply as if it had cost nothing. In effect, this victory costs God nothing. This is how He will fight all man's enmity against Himself and against His Anointed. What divine irony! “Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their cords from us!” God answers: “He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision!” (Ps. 2: 3-4).

David is indignant at these outrageous words of the Jebusites and his indignation is according to God. When we see the world occupying God's domain while yet the enemy of Christ, our hearts moved by the Holy Spirit may well be filled with indignation. We can ardently desire that the Lord might at last have the place that is His by rights, that He be no longer scoffed at by the world which has rejected Him, and that His reign may be established on earth after the judgment of the living nations. To feel thus is in order.

But we find another emotion, one we can approve of less, in David's heart. Besides that which he typifies in his person, he is the energetic man to whom God has entrusted power. His authority is contested; he is indignant — and his words display it (1 Chr. 11: 6): “Whoever smites the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain.” What happens? “Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up, and was chief.” Joab, the man whose craftiness we have seen from the very beginning; Joab, whose wickedness David had recognized, whom he had branded with the name “wicked man” before all the people, on whose head he had invoked God's judgment (2 Sam. 3: 28-30), whom he had declared to be “too hard for me”: this Joab is the man whom David's word gave occasion to become general in chief.

The fact that Joab is elevated to be head of the army is one of the most unfortunate events of David's reign, and here we see the king's weakness. A single word not dictated by the Holy Spirit and which stirred up fleshly rivalry brought such consequences in its wake. How easily man abuses the power which God has entrusted to him, using it in an independent manner! This fact should make us reflect. A fleshly word often results in more dangerous fruit than does an evil act.

At the end of verse 8 we read: “The lame and the blind hated of David's soul...! Therefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.” Who is it that speaks like this? It is David himself. How he differs from Christ in this point! Coming into the world, the Lord Jesus did exactly the opposite: “Blind men see and lame walk” (Matt. 11: 5). He cannot meet a single one of these unfortunate souls but what His love and His power unite to give healing. Even when His wrath, divine wrath, is expressed, is it not marvelous to see it opening up the floodgates of His grace? “And Jesus entered into the temple of God, and cast out all that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers and the seats of them that sold the doves. And He says to them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of robbers. And blind and lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them” (Matt. 21: 12-14). His wrath and indignation are expressed in the zeal of God's house which devoured Him (Ps. 69: 9), but He purifies His house, not to prevent the blind and the lame from entering it like David, but in order to introduce them there by healing them. We find a second example in the parable of the great supper. All the guests excused themselves from coming. “Then the master of the house, in anger, said to his bondman, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring here the poor and crippled and lame and blind” (Luke 14: 21). The master's anger against his guests results in seating the blind and the lame at the table of his great feast.

The same thing has happened to us. The Master's wrath against this people who would not hear His call of grace has opened the door of the marriage supper to poor Gentiles, strangers to His promises, incapable of seeing Him or going to Him.

All these facts prove how important it is if we are to have a proper understanding of this portion of Scripture to maintain the distinction between David as a man and David as a type of Christ.

2 SAMUEL 5: 10-25 — VICTORIES

The first result of the establishment of the throne on mount Zion is that David is acknowledged by the nations. “Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and timber of cedars, and carpenters, and masons; and they built David a house” (v. 11), for Hiram wanted to contribute as best he could to the splendor of the reign that had begun. Later under Solomon this same Hiram works on the construction of the temple. In this history he plays an important role as representative of the friendly nations who will come willingly to submit to Messiah's reign.

The history of David as a type of Christ continues to unfold in this chapter. Among the nations there are those who do not acknowledge his supremacy and who seek to shake off his yoke. The Philistines come up against David; revolt begins with this internal enemy who occupies the people's inheritance. Later we will see the nations located on Israel's borders — Moab and the children of Ammon, then Syria and Assyria — revolting in their turn. Victory over the nations, just like the submission of the tribes of Israel, takes place gradually. Philistia is subjugated and the Lord will say of her by David's mouth: “Over Philistia will I triumph” (Ps. 108: 9 KJV). We must not forget — prophecy is very explicit on this subject — that Israel's ancient enemies which have now in part disappeared will reappear in the end times, whether it be to undergo their final judgment, or whether it be to share in the blessings of the millennium together with the people of God. The Philistines are subjugated and their idols are destroyed.

Simultaneously with the history of David as type of the Messiah the history of David as responsible king continues to unfold also. This history shows us many weaknesses requiring discipline, leading David to judge himself so that once he is restored he again enjoys fellowship with God. It is most profitable to learn to recognize ourselves in this history and to understand the requirements of God's holiness and His ways toward us.

The conclusion of this chapter gives us a special lesson. When Hiram comes to submit to the king something takes place that is both touching and characteristic. A special feature of David's character is the complete absence of self-confidence: he was humble and had retained this character from the time that God had taken him “from the sheepfolds.” While he appreciated God's favor in giving him a glorious throne he did not have a high opinion of himself. “David perceived that Jehovah had established him king over Israel, and that He had exalted his kingdom because of His people Israel” (v. 12); not for his own sake — David loses sight of himself — but for the sake of His people Israel. Knowing that this kingdom of which he is head is exalted because God is thinking of His people whose blessing He had in view, David does not set himself above the people as lording it over them by insisting on his rights, but places himself beneath them, having only their welfare in view. He sees the place that Israel occupies in God's heart and recognizes that God has directed all things with His people in view. Our perfect model, the Lord Jesus, through His sufferings has acquired a place in glory, but He has taken this place for us His people, His beloved Church. Thus David's character as a man answers to Christ's character, and so it ought always to be with us.

But now the same thing that took place at Hebron (2 Sam. 3: 2-5) again takes place at Jerusalem (vv. 13-16). We have said above that the traits of independence seen in David resulted from the fact that he was invested with sovereign power. He uses his power for himself and thus acts in opposition to God's thoughts (Deut. 17: 17-19). Beside his political and other reasons for taking many wives David may have forgotten God's prohibition. He should not have forgotten: “It shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests, the Levites; and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life.” The majority of our disobedient acts stem from not maintaining living daily contact with the Word of God. To follow our own thoughts by neglecting this positive, absolute direction is disobedience.

Two things ought to characterize the walk of every child of God. David's career in First Samuel illustrates the first feature: dependence. But there is a second characteristic which we are not accustomed to regarding as important as the first: that is obedience. Dependence and obedience should never be separated in the child of God.

We have just seen David disobedient; we shall see him dependent without this lack of harmony influencing his spiritual life for the moment. But if David is in the school of God he will learn never to disassociate these two characteristics in the future. At the end of our chapter God obliges him, so to speak, to join one to the other, and when later in the following chapter David fails to meet this obligation and does not follow the will of God expressed in His Word, we see him come under discipline.

The Philistines go up against David (vv. 17-21); the king learns of it and goes down to the stronghold. His retreat was the place where God desired to dwell. “David inquired of Jehovah, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? wilt Thou give them into my hand?” (v. 19). Here we see him depending on God as was his habit. Is it a question of going up against the enemy? David does not know what to do: God alone knows and David asks Him for direction, saying in effect: “What shall I do?” God answers him immediately: “Go up; for I will certainly give the Philistines into thy hand.” David goes up; the bulwark that the enemy attempts to set in his way is breached, and David and his army rush through like an overflowing torrent, swallowing up the Philistines and their idols. In 1 Chronicles 14: 12 we see what the king did to these idols: “And they left their gods there; and David commanded, and they were burned with fire.” In just this way the idols of the nations will be destroyed in the end times (Isa. 2: 18).

But all is not over. The enemy renews his attack: the conditions are the same, the people are the same, the methods are the same, the place is the same. David might have said to himself: Since the situation is identical I will do as I did at the first attack. No way! He depends entirely on the Lord's direction. He goes about the matter in the right way, for this time the Lord gives him a completely different answer: “Thou shalt not go up.” The circumstances of this attack were the same as before: why then did God show David a completely different way of fighting? “Turn round behind them and come upon them opposite the mulberry-trees. And it shall be, when thou hearest a sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry-trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself; for then will Jehovah have gone forth before thee, to smite the army of the Philistines” (vv. 23-24). The reason for this change is that God wanted to bring together in His servant's heart the two things that David had more or less tended to separate, as we have seen in the preceding events. David needed not only to depend upon God but also to obey His word, whether or not he understood it. To obtain a new victory he had to obey, to follow out the order that God gave. “And David did so, as Jehovah had commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou comest to Gezer.”

This is how God in His mercy granted David to experience the blessings that accompany dependence united with obedience. David might have taken some credit for this second victory himself and perhaps he might have become proud, but God does not want this. His servant must understand that he is accountable to obey, and to this end God gives him certain signs to observe. The marching army, the sound of which is heard in the tops of the mulberry trees, is the Lord Himself and His army. When David heard this sound he could set forward from the post assigned to him, for acting on God's word he would take the enemy from behind. Before him were the mulberry trees. He knew that the Lord would attack the enemy head on and that he, David, would rush upon them from behind: their defeat would thus be complete. The main part was the Lord's; David remains humble. He listens, he does what the Lord commands: this is obedience. He wins the victory.

How important this is for us! Our dependence and our obedience are seen not only in major circumstances as here but also in the day by day details of life. If we fail here, we will expose ourselves to chastening, and David is going to be an example of this.

2 SAMUEL 6 — THE ARK AT ZION

It is not sufficient that the seat of the kingdom of David — or of Christ — be set up at Zion, the mountain of grace. God Himself desires to dwell there with His king forever (cf. Rev. 22: 1, 3). Thus David is entirely within the current of God's thoughts when he goes to seek the ark in order to bring it back to Jerusalem. God's glory finds no rest except in the place of grace. The ark, God's throne, is intimately associated with the throne of David, the throne of the Son of God. The Lord who up to this point had no permanent dwelling place because of the unfaithfulness of His people may now dwell with that same people because He desires to dwell with His anointed.

The king gathers together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand, to go to get the ark (v. 1). This may appear unusual. When it is a matter of the Lord's battles we do not see men of God gathering their whole army together. It is rather the contrary. Gideon with three hundred men, Jonathan with a single man, together with so many other captains won most signal victories. God fought with them and what are few or many soldiers to Him? It may suit Him to test His entire people in battle — with Him it is not as with the nations. Numbers count for nothing in His victories.

When on the other hand it is a matter of giving testimony to the God who sits between the cherubim, of setting up the place where He is to be worshipped, all those who represent the strength of Israel are not too many. How little this is understood among the children of God! Do all the chosen men gather around Christ before the throne of God the Father to honor and worship Him? Does worship have more value in the sight of Christians than all the activity they carry out for Him, however blessed it may be? Many would make the Christian life consist only in fighting for the gospel — no doubt a blessed combat, but an activity for which it is not at all necessary to gather together “all the chosen men.” We would soon see this degenerate into work based on human association — while worship would be ignored, neglected, unfamiliar. The gathering center of God's children would be despised and they would continue to be scattered as sheep which have no shepherd!

Such was not David's thought, thanks be to God. The object of his entire life as a wanderer, of all his afflictions, had been to arrive at this moment at which our chapter opens. We find proof of this in Psalm 132 to which we will return later.

The connections between 2 Samuel 5 and 2 Samuel 6 are not limited to those we have mentioned. As a responsible king, David, despite his many failings was pleasing to God. The Lord did not hide His face from him. He loved David for his faithfulness, for the grace displayed in his ways, and for his humble and submitted spirit. As we have seen, He had taught him to join obedience to dependence. David understood these things when it was a matter of fighting the enemy. Would he understand them in the events about to unfold?

When the moment had come to gather the tribes of Israel around the ark, their divine center, what should David do? Consult the Lord. Even though in bringing back the ark he had God's mind, it was not for David to determine how to do this. Had he understood this he would have avoided serious chastening. Had he consulted the Lord and His Word he would have known in what manner he should bring the ark back to Jerusalem.